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Obama using visit to Aurora today to pitch clean-energy program

U.S. President Barack Obama, flanked by Vice President Joe Biden, left, and House Speaker John Boehner, delivers his State of the Union address before a joint session of Congress on Capitol Hill on Jan. 24, 2012 in Washington, D.C. (Pool, Getty Images)

WASHINGTON — Using a Colorado Air Force base as a backdrop, President Barack Obama will tout an "all of the above" energy approach that includes opening up public lands for clean-energy private investments, spurring the military to go green and doling out tax incentives to the domestic clean-energy sector.

Buckley Air Force Base in Aurora is conveniently where the president will land in Air Force One this afternoon. It is also among the top Air Force bases in the country working on photovoltaic solar arrays.

Obama will deliver his remarks to a closed audience; the general public isn't invited. In the audience will be Denver Mayor Michael Hancock (Denver has been recognized nationally for its clean vehicle fleet), active-duty military, students from local clean-energy programs and local energy stakeholders.

Colorado is not a bad locale to showcase energy, both in traditional form and its alternatives. The state is a large producer of natural gas and clean coal. There are wind farms and hydroelectric power plants. Colorado is leading the way in shifting government vehicle fleets to natural gas, according to the governor's office.

"There are solar panels in the San Luis Valley, wind turbines, natural-gas plants, coal-fired plans, hydroelectric power," said George Douglas at the Golden-based National Renewable Energy Laboratory.

The president's stop in Aurora is part of a three-day swing through five states critical to his re-election this fall.

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The Department of Defense — the world's largest consumer of energy — will make a commitment to buy clean energy that would power 250,000 homes a year. And on Wednesday, officials said the president will issue permits for 10 gigawatts of renewable generation capacity — enough to power 3 million homes — from projects on public lands by the end of the year.

Obama also touted the administration's commitment to the development of natural gas, which he says would create hundreds of thousands of jobs and "power trucks and factories that are cleaner and cheaper."

Obama is using his trips out West this week to promote broad ideas put forward in his State of the Union address in creating manufacturing jobs, improving education and teachers and creating incentives for renewable energy.

On Wednesday, he stopped in Iowa and Phoenix and stayed overnight in Las Vegas to promote American manufacturing, where the administration hopes to give companies incentives to keep jobs in the United States.

Today he will talk about energy in Denver. He then flies to Detroit and on Friday will talk about worker skills and innovation.

It is the president's third trip since the fall to Colorado. He delivered two speeches in Denver, one in September on the economy and one in October on education.

The president's speech today won't likely wade into the controversies surrounding hydraulic fracturing, which he mentioned only once in the State of the Union. The administration wants to eventually require companies that drill for gas on public land to disclose the chemicals they use.

Obama may also give a nod to shale gas, which energy groups say was developed with private investment rather than government money.

"The president seems to be taking a lot more credit for industry's innovation that has developed shale gas," said Kathleen Sgamma, a vice president of the Western Energy Alliance. "We have tight sands and other unconventional sources of oil and natural gas. He's trying to take government credit for that success ... and it's mostly been private investments."

Sen. Mark Udall, a Democrat, has introduced legislation to force the Department of Defense to go more green. Parts of the legislation — including requiring the department to use more energy-efficient products like solar technology and energy metering at defense facilities — passed in last year's defense spending bill.

"I was very glad to hear the president say he understands that the military is an important part of our effort to make the nation energy independent," Udall said in an e-mail. Udall is to tour Ikea's geothermal facilities Friday. "Our military's reliance on fossil fuel puts our nation — and our troops — at risk."

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